TECUMSEH — A Tecumseh High School graduate who has garnered success as a musician is offering Tecumseh middle and high school dancers, actors, musicians and vocalists the opportunity to win a scholarship and perform with him.

Tim Ries will be one of three judges at a talent contest that starts at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2. He will later perform at 7:30 p.m. that day at the Tecumseh Center for the Arts to raise funds for a scholarship in memory of his parents. Tickets for the concert are $10 and can be purchased at the TCA.

Ries explained the scholarship in an email.

“It was started in 1990 with the passing of my father, the late Jack Ries, who was a trumpet player and employee of the Tecumseh Products,” he wrote. “He played with the Tecumseh Products Orchestra in the 1940s, and Ken Herrick loved music and was a fan of my father’s playing. When my father died, Ken Herrick got the scholarship rolling with a sizable donation. When my mother died in 2006, we renamed it the Jack and Edith Ries scholarship.”

Ries is master of more than a dozen instruments, including all the woodwinds and keyboards. He has performed at the White House, worked on Broadway with Paul Simon, toured with The Rolling Stones, backed Michael Jackson on his 30th anniversary extravaganza and has appeared on dozens of diverse albums, performing with Stevie Wonder, Blood Sweat & Tears, David Lee Roth, Rod Stewart, Norah Jones, Sheryl Crow and Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen, and on an album of Grammy Award winners with Joe Henderson.

Most recently, Ries was a sideman for the Rolling Stones’ 50th anniversary mini-tour in London and New York. He has collaborated with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Woods to produce two albums using Stones tunes.

Ries, who now lives in New Jersey, will be in Detroit on Feb. 1 to play with jazz drum legend Jack DeJohnette and decided to stay an extra day to see his family, who still lives in the Tecumseh area. Thinking about the Jack and Edith Ries Memorial Scholarship Fund, Ries contacted his former Tecumseh High School band teacher, Jim Rice, and together they came up with the talent show idea along with a concert to raise funds for the scholarship.

“It’s got an ‘America’s Got Talent’ vibe,” Ries said.

The first 25 students to sign up at the TCA will be eligible to participate in the talent show.

“You have five minutes to come and do your shtick — to do what you do,” Ries said. “Winner takes all, and they will have the opportunity perform with me on stage and to enjoy two weeks at a reputable camp. It could possibly even change their lives.”

Page 2 of 2 - Ries spent three summers at Interlochen and wants to help someone enjoy the experience he had at the renowned music camp. The winner must attend a camp in the summer of 2013. More information is available by calling the TCA at 423-6617.

“I went to Interlochen for three summers, and my father always loved going there to listen to the concerts and enjoy the beauty surrounding the campus and all the talented artists and musicians who performed,” Ries wrote.

TCA technical director Karen Bunch said auditions for the Jack and Edith Ries Scholarship will be between 1 and 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Tecumseh Center for the Arts. The scholarship is in the amount of $1,000 and is to be used for a music or performing arts camp in the summer of 2013. Only the first 25 applicants will be able to audition, and it is open to all Tecumseh school district students of music, whether it is instrumental, vocal or dance.

She said a piano will be available, as well as a sound system with playback of CD or iPod-like devices. Vocalists may sing with either piano accompaniment or pre-recorded tracks, but all pre-recorded music must be karaoke style, with no lead vocals in the mix.

Application forms can be picked up at the TCA from noon to 5 p.m. Monday and Tuesday. The forms are due at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29.

Tickets for the fundraising concert are $10, and available at the TCA box office from noon to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and one hour before the show. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.theTCA.org.

All who audition will receive two free tickets to the concert that evening, and the winner of the scholarship will have the chance to perform that evening as well, Bunch said.